Chatbot for marketing: How to get started?
Ready to boost your marketing game with a chatbot? Learn the basics of getting started with chatbots and how they can benefit your business.
Chatbots are not just for customer support – they can also be used to answer customer questions and power your marketing strategy. With the right setup, chatbots can help you capture leads and engage with customers effectively.
However, one common concern is that chatbots may not have empathy or personalization, which could make them less effective for customer interactions. It’s true that chatbots don’t have feelings, but they can still offer a personalized experience.
Read on to learn more about chatbots for marketing, how they can be used, and all the benefits you can expect to gain from them.
What is a marketing chatbot?
A marketing chatbot is an AI-powered tool that uses automated conversations to chat with users on messaging channels, websites, or chat apps. These conversational chatbots are designed for marketers to welcome new site visitors, convert and nurture leads, direct existing customers to customer support, and more.
Just like speaking with friends and family, a conversational marketing chatbot allows you to engage with customers at scale and deliver more personalized experiences through one-on-one conversations over the customer’s favorite channels.
So, while chatbots were initially used for customer support, they’re now gaining more popularity among B2B marketing and sales teams. They help speed up the buying cycle and allow businesses to serve their customers faster than ever.
This is why it is no surprise that more and more businesses are embracing this technology to stay ahead in the game. But keep in mind these chatbots aren’t powered by a human, they are built by one.
Benefits of using chatbots for marketing
The beauty of marketing chatbots is that they’re always on, running 24/7. They can keep your marketing going even when your team is busy or unavailable. Chatbots can automate key aspects of digital marketing channels, saving time and increasing efficiency.
Here are some of the key benefits of chatbot marketing:
Personalized engagement
Chatbot marketing offers personalized experiences for your clients, tailoring responses to their specific needs and preferences. By collecting data on user interactions, chatbots can provide targeted recommendations and relevant information, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
24/7 availability
One of the main benefits of chatbots for marketing is their ability to provide round-the-clock customer support. With chatbots, businesses can ensure that customers always have access to the assistance they need, regardless of the time of day. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also increases efficiency by reducing response times.
Channel agnostic
Chatbots allow you to connect instantly with customers across different channels like WhatsApp Business Platform, Instagram, Live Chat, and others triggering a whole new set of conversations and opportunities for engagement throughout the customer journey.
Automation at scale
Chatbots also offer a cost-effective solution for handling customer inquiries and support. By automating responses to common questions and issues, businesses can reduce the need for human support, ultimately saving your business time and money.
This allows your marketing teams to focus on more strategic initiatives and projects, rather than spending their time answering the same questions repeatedly.
Segmenting traffic
A marketing chatbot is an excellent tool for segmenting traffic and targeting the right audience for your products. In fact, research shows that around 77% of a company’s Return on Investment (ROI) comes from segmented and targeted communication.
For instance, if a user shows interest in your pricing or a specific product, the chatbot can identify them as a hot lead. This type of segmentation allows the chatbot to engage with them at the right time.
Collecting valuable data
Another benefit of chatbots for marketing teams is their ability to collect valuable data and insights about customer behavior. By analyzing interactions with chatbots, businesses can gain a better understanding of their customers’ preferences, pain points, and behaviors. This data can then be used to inform marketing strategies and campaigns, ensuring that businesses are delivering the right messages to the right audience.
Customer stickiness and ROAS
AI-powered conversational chatbots are designed to boost the return on ad spending (ROAS) of marketing campaigns and create stickiness with clients through personalized experiences, ultimately resulting in increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
Lead generation
Chatbots can also help marketing teams improve lead generation and conversion rates. With conversational marketing, you can guide customers through the sales funnel, engage with them at the right time and provide personalized recommendations. This can help your business drive revenue and achieve its marketing goals more effectively.
These were some of the main benefits of implementing a chatbot for marketing. Now, let’s explore how your business can use marketing chatbots.
Chatbot for marketing use cases and examples
Help getting started: use a conversational chatbot to guide customers through the buying process. Businesses that require customers or partners to sign up for a service via an online form have enjoyed huge improvements in sign-up rates by moving the process from an old-style web form to a chatbot that guides the person through the process.
Increase engagement: Use an AI chatbot for personalized marketing campaigns by sending product updates and informing loyalty club members about benefits and offers.
Product recommendations: AI-powered conversational chatbots can analyze customer behavior and preferences to offer personalized product recommendations. Based on this data, the chatbot can suggest products the customer is likely interested in, increasing the chances of conversion.
Proactively collect feedback: To ensure customer satisfaction and keep track of user experience, an AI conversational chatbot can be used to proactively ask customers to fill out satisfaction survey and make it easy for them to provide feedback.
Other marketing use cases for chatbots that you may want to consider:
- Cross-sell and upsell: AI product recommendations can be built into chatbot conversation logic to help you promote products and services, ultimately leading to cross-sell or upsell opportunities.
- Maximize Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): AI conversational chatbots provide a comprehensive view of customers’ personal and transactional data, allowing businesses to engage with customers at key times to increase repeat purchases or contract renewals.
- Appointment scheduling: Assist customers with appointment scheduling and make it easy for them to book any time, anywhere
- Turn visitors into qualified leads: Use conversational chatbots to collect information from visitors for later engagement campaigns.
Conversational marketing journey in action
Whether you’re in retail and eCommerce, finance, on-demand, we provide you with the technology you need to create conversational experiences that drive customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Let’s deep dive into a conversational marketing journey and see what happens at every stage.
- Awareness stage: The journey starts with a click-to-WhatsApp-ad on Instagram featuring a smart watch tailored to catch the right target audience.
- Consideration stage: User clicks on ad and gets directed to a conversational chatbot on WhatsApp and later greeted with a personalized welcome message.
- Product recommendation: Based on the interactions that occurred in the consideration stage, the conversation naturally transitions to recommending tailored products.
- Purchase: After a serious of interactions, a product is chosen and purchased directly within WhatsApp through a simple buying process.
- Post purchase: Keep customers informed about order status from shipping to delivery. Once the product has been delivered, reach out again for feedback.
Chatbot marketing made simple with Infobip
By now you know that chatbots can do a lot more than just customer support. If implemented properly, they can serve as marketing assistants, promoting your products and services and personalizing your customers’ buying experience.
A conversational chatbot enables customers to connect with your brand on a deeper level resulting in increased satisfaction and lifetime loyalty.
With Infobip’s conversational marketing solution, we can help you build the best chatbot experience for your customers. Together, we can improve, optimize, and automate your marketing efforts with messaging solutions underpinned by our leading cloud communication platform.